Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are teeing up investor calls for listed miner Nickel Industries’ debt capital markets trip, aiming to pull off what would be 2023’s first chunky high-yield credit deal on Australian shores.Bloomberg
The two banks were canvassing large credit investors on Tuesday afternoon, telling them they want to firm up pricing on the senior unsecured debt deal before Sunday. Nickel Industries, which flagged its intention to refinance this morning, wants to split the deal into a new-money leg and a tender offer of existing $US325 million senior unsecured notes that are due April 2024.They were told to think of a 5.5 year new deal that would be due in second half of 2028. But the deal size and pricing was fluid as of Tuesday morning, as the brokers waited on investors in the existing debt stack to decide if they wanted to roll over to the new notes.
It’s wedged itself into a narrow window of pause in interest rates and is giving high-yield credit investors something to sink their teeth into after a long drought in new issuance. It’s also a repeat of what it did on the equity side in January,Credit rating agency Moody’s has a B1 rating on the mooted deal, same as Nickel Industries’ issuer rating.
has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.